Senior Software Engineering Leader — Hybrid, Platform & API

El Pollo Loco, Inc.; Costa Mesa (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Great Place to Work culture

Career growth opportunities

Medical + Dental + Vision Insurance +

401(K) with match

Paid Vacation + Sick Pay + 12 Holidays

Employee Assistance Program

Food discounts

PerkSpot discounts

Job summary

El Pollo Loco is seeking a Senior Manager of Software Engineering to set vision, standards, and execution strategy for our software engineering function. This leader will manage architects, API services, integrations, and modernization initiatives across platforms that support restaurant operations and enterprise functions.

You'll partner with Restaurant Technologies, Data & Analytics, Infrastructure, HR, Finance, Marketing, and Operations to deliver secure, scalable software that aligns with

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field.
• 8–12 years of progressive software development experience.
• At least 5 years in a technical leadership role (Engineering Manager, Lead Developer, or similar).
• Prior experience with application development.

Responsibilities

• Leads and manages the software engineering organization, including application developers and quality assurance engineers.
• Establishes the technical direction, engineering standards, and development practices for the organization.
• Provides architectural oversight and technical leadership across application development, integrations, APIs, and data workflows.
• Guides modernization initiatives including platform upgrades, cloud adoption, system refactoring, and technical debt reduction.
• Oversees the full software development lifecycle including requirements, design, development, testing, documentation, and deployment. Brings AI capabilities into SDLC.
• Establishes and enforces coding standards, secure development practices, version control strategies, CI/CD pipelines, and documentation requirements.

Skills

Technical leadership

Application development

Architecture design

Cross-functional collaboration

Onsite work policy adherence

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Git

CI/CD pipelines

APIs

ETL platforms

Databases

Job description

El Pollo Loco is seeking a Senior Manager of Software Engineering to set vision, standards, and execution strategy for our software engineering function. This leader will manage architects, API services, integrations, and modernization initiatives across platforms that support restaurant operations and enterprise functions.

You'll partner with Restaurant Technologies, Data & Analytics, Infrastructure, HR, Finance, Marketing, and Operations to deliver secure, scalable software that aligns with